The art of coming up with shows ft. Blake Smith, Creative Director at Vidyard
We've had a chance to connect with Blake Smith, Creative Director at Vidyard to talk about the art of coming up with episodic series for your business and some hard earned lessons.
Episodic content as a concept and strategy is on a steady rise, for a reason. Brands are realizing that they need to get more personal, and more entertaining than ever before if they are to build genuine, lasting connections with the people they most want to resonate with, from both a marketing and a sales level.
Creating shows is something that can sound appealing to building thought leadership and even developing sales relationships, but difficult to determine where best to start. I wanted to speak to someone who's been there and done that, enter Blake Smith, Creative Director at Vidyard.
As part of our Spotlight Series at tribetactics, we're always on the lookout to balance our own research with the insights we learn from experts and practitioners in our community.
On their website, Vidyard is "the easiest way to create, host, and share videos so you can keep connecting with customers and colleagues when everything else feels remote" and Blake leads the creative direction of the brand, and one of the main ways they do this is through their devotion to episodic content as a way to build a relationships with their current and new customers and audiences alike.
Learning #1: If your company has FAQs, it's showtime
Sometimes one person's question is another person's opportunity. For companies, this can mean looking at inbound requests you're getting, and other social triggers that you can leverage for inspiration to create an episodic series.
Blake:
"For a long time we've been consistently getting questions around tips and tricks when it comes to video production. So, rather than recording webinars and writing blog posts, our CEO approached us about recording a podcast answering the various things we're constantly being asked. After a couple brainstorms, we landed on the approach of just having myself and Mat King (our Video Production Manager) share our knowledge and experiences when it comes to video production in a conversational manner based off the topic of the episode. "
Learning #2: Create different shows for different humans and different aspirations
Vidyard simultaneously run Video Island, Video in Focus, and Creating Connections as shows.
Blake:
"These shows basically stemmed from a company strategy to both build and lead the movement in terms of using video across an organization, whether it's sales, marketing, CX or internal communications."
"The Video Island Podcast pretty much focused on the creation of video whereas Video in Focus/Creating Connections touched on practices and strategies to stand out and connect with your buyers."
Learning #3: Leverage what you're already doing
One of my favourite things that Vidyard does is how resourceful they are to make opportunities work harder for them.
Blake:
"Tyler Lessard (VP of Marketing, Corporate) is constantly out and about within the conference/event circuit running various sessions and presentations. While he is out at these shows, he's meeting up with all sorts of thought leaders across various roles who have great insight in regards to business strategies with and without video. So, in parallel with the Video Island Podcast, he saw it as a great opportunity to get these thought leaders on camera to share their knowledge and use it as content for his shows."
Learning #4: Imperfection can deliver better results
In a world where many strive to be their perfect selves (read: a myth), imperfection sells. It helps us relate to you better.
Blake:
"We're noticing this increasing trend of raw and genuine video performing better because it captures the person as who they actually are. They're being themselves, talking from the heart opposed to reading off a script or trying to memorize the buzzwords that make them seem smart.
Like we say at Vidyard, video is the next best thing to being there in person!"
"Plus, everyone is carrying a 4k camera in their pocket via their mobile device so any hurdles to having access to a camera that can record nice looking video is gone. So there's really no excuse to not being able to create a video these days."
Looking to learn more about episodic marketing and get started with a show? Book a brainstorming call with us.